Hand American Honing Film

changeofseasons

changeofseasons

Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Messages
156
So I've tried just about every strop there is. I've even tried diamond spray on glass. However, I haven't tried using film on glass that has been loaded with diamond.

Has anyone here tried using the Hand American honing film? I've seen it for sale, but for the life of me I can't find any reviews on it.

If you use it, how do you use it and what blades to you use it with?
 
changeofseasons said:
So I've tried just about every strop there is. I've even tried diamond spray on glass. However, I haven't tried using film on glass that has been loaded with diamond.

Has anyone here tried using the Hand American honing film? I've seen it for sale, but for the life of me I can't find any reviews on it.

If you use it, how do you use it and what blades to you use it with?
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What's up, not getting results of final polishing that you expect?
 
No. I'm just surprised that HA sells something that nobody talks about or has reviewed... at least as far as I know.

Some buddies of mine use diamond directly on glass for polishing the ride on shears. I'm wondering if there is a medium like the HA film that is slick like the glass but holds the diamond better.
 
changeofseasons said:
No. I'm just surprised that HA sells something that nobody talks about or has reviewed... at least as far as I know.

Some buddies of mine use diamond directly on glass for polishing the ride on shears. I'm wondering if there is a medium like the HA film that is slick like the glass but holds the diamond better.
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You know where his products are at now right?

I just checked and they're selling the film, Rock Hard Felt Pad 11"x 3" , Balsa Magnetic Pad 11" x 3" (I have some balsa strops but I hate them as I can't feel what's going on like with leather), Bark Tanned Bovine Mag Pad and that's about it besides rods, sprays and liquidy pastes.
 
Only place I've ever seen them for sale have been sold out for months.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't using the film on glass virtually eliminating the possibility of rolling the edge since the substrate won't "curl" over the edge like leather or even Balsa(I think?) would?

Also have to agree that Balsa doesn't give the same feedback as leather, and I also seem to be dulling my edges whenever I move to the Balsa.
 
Yeah, I know where it is. CKTG is out of stock and has been for a while. Just wanting to know if there is a review from someone that's used it.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't using the film on glass virtually eliminating the possibility of rolling the edge since the substrate won't "curl" over the edge like leather or even Balsa(I think?) would?
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Don't think you're wrong here. Of course curl could always come into play if the film isn't completely secured to the glass.

Noctis3880 said:
Also have to agree that Balsa doesn't give the same feedback as leather, and I also seem to be dulling my edges whenever I move to the Balsa.
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My experience is that nothing holds compound and responds as well as leather does when freehand stropping a knife. I like balsa when using jig based stropping. It holds compound well enough and stays flat. I like keeping things flat.

But knives aren't what I'm experimenting with right now. I'm playing around with the ride on scissors. Those bevels need to be completely flat. A book could be written on that subject, but I'm interested in some more basic questions.

How well does the film hold the diamond spray. Does the compound stay put or does it get pushed around? What is the film made of? mylar? some other plastic? How does using this stuff compare to using 3M microfinishing film?

I'm also interested in any other information / experience that someone that has used this product might have.
 
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I've read that it's popular with woodworkers. I've tried the film a few times, but it requires a bit of common sense to use so it didn't work for me.

Lapping film and printer paper with a bit of polishing compound work a lot better for me even though they do about the same thing the same way. :confused:
 
jimnolimit said:
i don't see how diamond spray on glass would be effective :confused:.
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I like to have a full explanation for everything. For this one I don't. But I do know that it works. I haven't tried the technique with knives. With shears you use considerably more pressure while honing. The process is different. Some of the diamond gets pushed around the surface of the glass, wasting quite a bit of the spray. (This is done wet believe it or not.) Some of the diamond embeds in the glass long enough to hone the inside of the shear. The shear will then cut hair effortlessly, with no crunchy feel. It's the darnedest thing. Although it's not the method I choose to sharpen, I'll try just about anything to test myself and what I know.

If the honing film is hard and slick, it might be worth it to try out this method again. If it's too soft, probably not.
 
changeofseasons said:
I like to have a full explanation for everything. For this one I don't. But I do know that it works. I haven't tried the technique with knives. With shears you use considerably more pressure while honing. The process is different. Some of the diamond gets pushed around the surface of the glass, wasting quite a bit of the spray. (This is done wet believe it or not.) Some of the diamond embeds in the glass long enough to hone the inside of the shear. The shear will then cut hair effortlessly, with no crunchy feel. It's the darnedest thing. Although it's not the method I choose to sharpen, I'll try just about anything to test myself and what I know.

If the honing film is hard and slick, it might be worth it to try out this method again. If it's too soft, probably not.
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I don't know about shears but I talked to Keith of HA and have read in this section, more than once, about guys using pastes (or sprays not sure which?) on glass to strop. All I could think was - "boy you'd have to have a steady hand" and "scraping your nails on a chalk-board!!" :D
 
changeofseasons said:
I like to have a full explanation for everything. For this one I don't. But I do know that it works. I haven't tried the technique with knives. With shears you use considerably more pressure while honing. The process is different. Some of the diamond gets pushed around the surface of the glass, wasting quite a bit of the spray. (This is done wet believe it or not.) Some of the diamond embeds in the glass long enough to hone the inside of the shear. The shear will then cut hair effortlessly, with no crunchy feel. It's the darnedest thing. Although it's not the method I choose to sharpen, I'll try just about anything to test myself and what I know.

If the honing film is hard and slick, it might be worth it to try out this method again. If it's too soft, probably not.
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trying to strop on bare glass is counter intuitive IMO. some type of layer should be applied to the glass so the abrasive particles have something to embed themselves into. i have no firsthand experience with hand america hone film, but if you decide to try it, write a review.

p.s i've even heard of people using 3M micropore tape stuck to glass as a strop.
 
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changeofseasons said:
I like to have a full explanation for everything. For this one I don't. But I do know that it works. I haven't tried the technique with knives. With shears you use considerably more pressure while honing. The process is different. Some of the diamond gets pushed around the surface of the glass, wasting quite a bit of the spray. (This is done wet believe it or not.) Some of the diamond embeds in the glass long enough to hone the inside of the shear. The shear will then cut hair effortlessly, with no crunchy feel. It's the darnedest thing. Although it's not the method I choose to sharpen, I'll try just about anything to test myself and what I know.

If the honing film is hard and slick, it might be worth it to try out this method again. If it's too soft, probably not.
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If I understand you correctly, this sounds more like a lapping/flattening process on a wide surface (the inside face of the shears), as opposed to sharpening/stropping a very narrow bevel/edge. I assume you're pressing the inside surfaces of the shears flat against the glass while rubbing/polishing with the compound? If so, it makes some sense to me. This would be the same (essentially) as lapping a stone with compound on a flat, hard, smooth surface, where the compound gets underneath and can do some real work.

As for sharpening/stropping a knife on glass, where only the very edge, or a narrow bevel is making contact, I'd think using the compound on glass wouldn't be very effective, without having some medium to hold the compound as the edge passes over it. Otherwise, most of the compound would simply get 'pushed around' on the glass (I'd think).

Not being critical. Just checking if I understand what you're trying to do. It's an interesting topic.
 
I'm wondering about using compound on 'frosted' or 'etched' glass... That would give enough surface for any compound to bind, yet still be flat enough to get the job done.

Stitchawl
 
stitchawl said:
I'm wondering about using compound on 'frosted' or 'etched' glass... That would give enough surface for any compound to bind, yet still be flat enough to get the job done.

Stitchawl
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i've never seen frosted glass used like that, it might work, it might not. the problem with glass is that it's non porous and harder than steel. whether it be straight razors, chisels or knives, materials like glass and granite are used as a flat bases and not to hold abrasives.

why are you against using a film or layer on the glass?
what about using an ultra fine stone instead?

if you want to learn alot about stropping, do some research on the straight razor forums. those guys have a vested interest in creating perfected edges (or their face will pay the price).
 
jimnolimit said:
i've never seen frosted glass used like that, it might work, it might not.
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That is why I'm wondering about about it. :)

materials like glass and granite are used as a flat bases and not to hold abrasives.
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I'll have to remember that.

why are you against using a film or layer on the glass?
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I'm not against it at all. I use film often.

what about using an ultra fine stone instead?
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Films come a lot finer than the finest stones.

if you want to learn alot about stropping, do some research on the straight razor forums.
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I should do that. Thanks. :)


Stitchawl
 
The frosted glass idea is actually interesting, to me. Glass is harder than steel (that's a desirable thing here). And the diamond is harder than the glass. Maybe hard enough to bite & hold, perhaps? Don't know yet, but it'd be interesting to play around with & see.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
The frosted glass idea is actually interesting, to me. Glass is harder than steel (that's a desirable thing here). And the diamond is harder than the glass. Maybe hard enough to bite & hold, perhaps? Don't know yet, but it'd be interesting to play around with & see.
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The pane of glass that I lap my EP stones with Sic is pretty frosted, I wonder if that will hold the compound?
 
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